


Empty

by ikawritesthings



Series: Thanks for the Memories [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Dream Team SMP Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Light Angst, Memory Loss, Other, Tales Of The SMP, Time Travel, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, karl forgets sapnap and quackity, karl sapnap and quackity are bffs, no beta we die like phil in s2, someone in the comments corrected me, thank u i apologise for any heart attacks i caused LOL, that was originally "s4" cos i wrote tags at 3am like a dumbass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29190432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikawritesthings/pseuds/ikawritesthings
Summary: 'The two boys made eye contact, seemingly asking a million questions at once.Where was Karl? Why hadn’t he told either of them he was leaving? Why hadn’t he contacted them? Was he okay?'TLDR; Sapnap and Quackity haven't heard from Karl in a week. So they go to his house to check on him.(AKA: Karl is a time traveller. His friends don't know.)
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Thanks for the Memories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172891
Comments: 19
Kudos: 231





	Empty

Sapnap pushed open the wooden door, inhaling a breath of air heavy with dust. He coughed, taking a step away from the threshold to allow some of the dust to disperse into the outside air. Quackity paid it no mind, however, pushing past him and into the small home.

“KARL? KARLOS!” he called, lighting one of the gas lamps that hung from the bookshelves lining the room. Sapnap followed closely behind him, straining his eyes in the remaining darkness. He’d never actually been in Karl’s house before, he’d only seen it from the outside, and it wasn’t exactly... what he’d call comfortable. There seemed to be only two rooms, a main entry room and a small bedroom. The main room, now warmly lit with the lantern, was covered in a fine layer of dust as if Karl hadn’t been there for weeks. The walls were lined with shelves, which were filled row by row with different books. Some looked brand new, like they were bound yesterday, and others were falling apart at the spines. The bedroom was barely visible from where Sapnap was standing, the door leading to it only cracked open enough to show the outline of a bed and a chest. Quackity poked his head through said door, but sighed defeatedly,

“He’s not in there?” Sapnap asked, earning a shrug from his friend. He sighed. Despite Quackity’s seemingly carefree nature and inability to take anything seriously, Sapnap could tell he was worried. His lips were pointed downwards into a frown, and his shoulders were tense with anxiety. It’d been about a week since either of them had heard from Karl, so they’d come to his house to check up on him in case he was bedridden with some sort of sickness. Honestly, finding him passed out with a fever would’ve been better than not finding him at all. Neither of them said anything to each other, but the tension was palpable. The three boys had grown extremely close over the past year, spending weeks and weeks without separating, so there was an unspoken understanding that this behaviour wasn’t normal. The two boys made eye contact, seemingly asking a million questions at once.

_Where was Karl? Why hadn’t he told either of them he was leaving? Why hadn’t he contacted them? Was he okay?_

“Come on dude, he’s clearly not here,” Quackity grumbled, doing one more quick once over of the room with his eyes before stalking towards the door. “Maybe we should check somewhere else.”

“... I guess. Can we leave a note or something? In case he comes back?” Sapnap fished through his bag, producing a piece of paper and a quill. “Turn around, let me lean on you.”

“WHAT? No way! You’ll get ink all over my jacket. Lean on something else.”

“ _Dude_ , it’ll take two seconds. There’s nothing else to lean on - he doesn’t have a desk!”

Quackity locked eyes with Sapnap, stepping back into the house. Keeping his gaze, he reached to his left and found the spine of a book with his fingers, “The room is covered in books, idiot,” he pulled, “Lean on one of-” the book stopped halfway off the shelf, an audible click echoed through the room, the bookshelf came loose from the wall, “-the books.”

Both boys stared in awe as the fake wall swung open, revealing an ominous stone corridor and a wooden staircase that curved downwards and off to the side. A dim glow shined up from the bottom of the stairs, source out of sight.

“Well that’s fucking _horrifying_.” Sapnap murmured, setting down the paper and quill on a nearby shelf before pulling his sword from its sheath. Quackity looked over at him, clearly excited.

“Do we go down the dark, scary secret corridor?”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea-” Quackity began descending down the stairs, cackling, “...and you’re going.” Sapnap sighed, shaking his head. Reluctantly, he followed, holding his sword out in front of him. From the bottom of the staircase, he heard Quackity screech.

“Dude? Are you okay?” No answer. Fearing the worst, Sapnap picked up the space, hopping down two stairs at a time until he reached the bottom.

The stairs led to another small room, the walls, now stone, again lined with shelves. Except, there were fewer books down here, and most of them seemed to be blank, save for a few that had titles hastily scrawled along the leather spines. In the corner was a small wooden desk, with papers and unbound books scattered across it haphazardly. The light oak wood was stained with splotches of dark ink, as if the person writing at it couldn’t control their hands as they wrote. The harsh, rocky floor had been padded with purple and blue carpet in a swirly pattern, similar to the design on the front of Karl’s favourite hoodie, and the room was brightly lit by the torches hanging on the wall. In the corner, hunched over the desk, was a dishevelled figure. He was staring confusedly at Quackity, brown eyes decorated with dark circles and drooping eyelids. His skin was pale, contrasting against the brown of his tangled hair and the neon colours of his hoodie. He was also, clearly, the reason for the screech.

“Karl!?” Quackity asked, advancing further into the room and towards his friend. He took him by the shoulders, shaking him, “You look like shit! Where the hell have you been man? I’ve been losing my goddamn shit wondering what happened to you!” Karl simply blinked, tensing when the other boy pulled him in for a hug. Sapnap breathed a sigh of relief, putting his sword away at the sight of his friend.

“Yeah, dude. We haven’t heard from you in like, a week!” Sapnap cringed. Saying it aloud made it sound a lot less serious. But, for them, it was basically an eternity. He walked towards them, putting a hand on Karl’s shoulder as Quackity stepped back, examining the room, “We were worried. You gotta tell us next time you’re gonna disappear like that.”

Karl stared blankly, gaze flitting between them. There was no hint of recognition in his eyes.

He pulled back from Sapnap’s touch, laughing nervously and backing up.

“Uh, sorry. Do I know you?”

**Author's Note:**

> i speedran wrote this after the masquerade episode of tales today cos holyyyy shit !! it was so good, karl rly outdoes himself every time. the idea of karl forgetting everyone he knows and them having no idea why their best friend now thinks they're a stranger is heartbreaking imo, so have this !! lololol
> 
> this isn't beta'd and i also might change the summary/title. its 3am where i am rn and i cant think of anything better that doesn't give it away
> 
> i might write a sequel of like q and sap tryna get karls memories back, but we'll see if ppl even want that + if i have the energy lololol :] tysm for reading!! comments give me the happy chemical :]<33333


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